GOP lawmakers move to block Nashville Amp

State Rep. Vince Dean postpones bill to give lawmakers time to 'digest' it

Mar. 5, 2014

State Rep. Vince Dean, R-East Ridge

Written by

Max Smith

The Tennessean

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This image from an Amp conceptual video shows a dedicated bus station and car-free lanes in the middle of the street. / Submitted

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Republican lawmakers are trying to stop The Amp, a proposed high-speed bus line for the Nashville, with legislation that would ban center lanes from being used for mass transit.

State Rep. Vince Dean, R-East Ridge, proposed an amendment to his own House bill about crosswalks and public transit that would restrict Nashville’s “bus rapid transit” plans severely.

Dean proposed the amendment in the House Transportation Committee’s meeting Wednesday. The amendment passed by a voice vote, but Dean postponed the bill until next week, giving lawmakers time to “digest” it.

The type of public transportation that would be banned by the amendment precisely describes The Amp’s “bus rapid transit” concept, posing a grave threat to the $175 million project just as it gets off the ground.

The Amp would dedicate the center lane of roads for use by the Amp bus alone, allowing the bus to breeze through traffic, cutting travel times by an estimated 10 to 35 percent. The line would extend 7.1 miles between Five Points in East Nashville to the St. Thomas hospital area in West Nashville.

This isn’t the first Republican opposition the Amp has faced. Last month, state Sen. Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, introduced legislation barring state transportation agencies from spending state funds on the project this year.

“We’ve gone from a conversation about state funding to transit to what could be a huge overreach by the legislature to dictate transportation policy in Nashville,” said Ralph Schulz, vice-chairman of the Amp Coalition.

Yesterday, the Obama administration announced that $27 million had been awarded to The Amp project in its proposed federal budget for the 2015 fiscal year.

“Nashville is a growing city, and that benefits the whole state,” Schulz said, “Why would legislators want to limit Nashville’s options for managing that growth?”